Advice for a new pet goldfish owner?

Question

I won a goldfish at my local church festival two days ago. The fish is doing well to me, but the thing is that I had him in a plastic cup. I change the water in it daily and the fish looks good to me. I've recently moved him to a bigger container because I can't afford an aquarium right now. And my aunt let me have a spare thing of fish food, so I've fed him too.

Any other advice from other fishowners would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I have a goldifish right now in like a 5 liter container currently helping me cycle the container. so i would say put it in a bigger container as they need room to grow mine is growing fat by the way. also get a filter because they need filtered wter and alot of oxygen, dont know why.

Answer 2

how big is your container with big container and only one goldfish will be okay moving it to a bigger container is the right thing to do.  Just do partial water change daily to keep good water quality and air since you got no budget for an aerator.  Without changing the water since you got no filter water quality will be very bad.  A common goldfish can sustain longer however the fancy ones will have a problem in just couple of days.  10 to 20 percent water change daily

Answer 3

Do not swich water every day they have to live in the same water for good. If you change it something will react. I have like 8 fish and you also maybe have to get ph and stuff. Go to your local pet store and ask them bring the fish in and they will tell you what you need. If it just one fish you can get a clear glass bowl fish tank thing for 5 dollars or you can get bigger things for a few more. It doesnt have to be anything special. You need a plant some rocks and then put the fish in but when you tke the fish out take a little bit of the water fro the cup,tank or what ever and put it in a cup as well wit the fish. Have fun. What did you name it? And eventulay you will need a bigger tank becuase they grow fast. Have fun. I have 5 gold fish and 3 guppies.

Answer 4

gold fish are not very hard to entertain all you need is water and some food and a tank (or plastic container) it can swim in make sure the container is atleast big enought for him to swim up and down in.and they dont have very long life time expecialy if its bought from a festavel or something like that.but it is possible it can live for a long time my sisters lived for 7 years from a local festival ~ good luck!

Answer 5

Wow....what a lot of really poor advice given so far.....Don't change the water ever?  Are you kidding me?....

And "those fish don't have long life spans"?  Ehhh wrong there too.  Those goldfish, with proper care-diet, housing, water changes, etc.  have the potential to live 20+ years.  The ones I have were bought at the store, the same kinds-those 10 cent feeder goldfish, and mine are going on 9 years old now.  

You folks should educate yourselves before passing out poor info to unsuspecting people.  

I would suggest since you said you can't afford a tank, find someone who has a tank or a pond that will take the fish.  It won't survive, and if it does happen to survive any length of time, it'll be a very poor quality of life for it.  Goldfish need room, at least a 15-20 gallon fish tank to start-and will need a larger one as it gets older as well.  They also MUST have a filter on their tank.  There's just no way around it.  They need the water cleaned through the filter, and also the oxygen that the filter puts back into the water through surface agitation.

If you can't get an aquarium, see about getting yourself a 20 gallon Rubbermaid bin.  It doesn't look the greatest, but will do much better then a cup or bowl.  

Then, if you could just swing a filter, or at the very least a pump with an air stone to add some oxygen would work until you could get a filter.  If you go that route, you'd still need to change out about 1/2 of the water daily to neutralize the toxic ammonia that'll build up quickly.  But, a basic filter from Walmart for that size tank will run you about 10-20.00.  

It won't survive in your cup long though, nor in a small bowl.  Good luck with whatever you decide to do.  Maybe drop a hint to your church next time they have a festival, not to hand out goldfish as prizes, since it's not very humane, nor appropriate.  That practice is actually banned in some countries like England....too bad the US doesn't follow.

Answer 6

Well even though you cant affort and aquarium, have you ever though about a glass fish bowl. There way less inexpensive then aquariums? And as long as you clean what ever you choose to keep it in daily, and feed it daily. You should be fine for a while. But honestly those type of fish won dont have long life spans at all. So no going with a aquarium tank is a good choice :). Ive had expirences with the same fish.